8611Amendments to the Constitution, [13 August] 1789 (Madison Papers)
On 21 July, JM moved that the House take up amendments in the Committee of the Whole, as provided in his resolution of 8 June. After some debate, the House referred the 8 June resolution and all the amendments proposed by the state ratifying conventions to a select committee of one member from each state. This committee reported on 28 July ( JM to W. C. Nicholas, 2 Aug. 1789 and n. 1). On 13...
8612Notes from Congress’ Secret Journal on Instructions to Peace Commissioners, 7 June 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). See Notes from Secret Journal, 28 May 1781 , headnote. Sd. Come. Carol. Jones &c—report —Witherspoon’s motion with a Secret adl. instrn. 1. to try for old ultm. as to Boundary 2 but if necessary to leave qon open—or this refused 3 to settle matter as well as possible—on 1st all ay—on 2. all ay but Sul: & Livr. Ward—Mr. Mer. Smith —so carried —on the 3d—Sul: & Liv....
8613Report of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, [16 December 1826] (Madison Papers)
make the following It being a provision of the law that the Visitors or a majority of them should once at least in every year, visit the University, enquire into the proceedings and practices thereat, examine the progress of the students, and give to those who excel in any branch of Science there taught, such honorary marks and testimonies of approbation as may encourage & excite to industry &...
8614Notes on Debates, 8 February 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . Come. of the whole. Mr. Mercer revived the subject of retrospective operation; and after it had been much discussed & the difference elucidated wch....
8615Remission and Pardon for George J. Julien, [25 June 1816] (Madison Papers)
Whereas at the late Circuit Court of the United States for the County of Washington, in the District of Columbia, George J. Julien, of the said County, pleaded guilty, to a charge against him for larceny, in the said Court, whereupon he was sentenced by the Court to be publickly whipped & to pay a fine of five Dollars to the United States: and whereas it is represented to me that the said...
8616Relationship between Federal and State Governments, [21 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Having rejected the New Jersey Plan, the convention now was considering the amended Virginia Plan as reported out of the Committee of the Whole on 13 June. The resolution calling for a legislature with two branches was under debate. Johnson argued the small states’ view that it was necessary to give each state an equal vote in the legislature in order to preserve state sovereignty against the...
8617Account with the Commonwealth of Virginia, [20 April] 1787 (Madison Papers)
By an act of the October 1785 session of the Virginia assembly, delegates to Congress from Virginia were allowed a salary of “six dollars per day while attending on, travelling to, and returning from Congress,” to be paid quarterly ( Hening, Statutes William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in...
8618Naturalization, [3 February] 1790 (Madison Papers)
The first clause of the naturalization bill, requiring one year’s residence by aliens for citizenship and an additional residence of two years to be capable of holding either a state or federal office, was under consideration. Tucker moved to strike out the one-year residence requirement in order to permit aliens to purchase and hold lands immediately upon taking an oath of allegiance. Mr....
8619Salaries for Members of the First Branch of the Legislature, [22 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
The clause in the report of 13 June providing that the members of the first branch of the legislature “receive fixed stipends … to be paid out of the National-Treasury” was under debate ( Farrand, Records Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.; New Haven, 1911–37). , I, 228). Mr. Madison concurred in the necessity of preserving the compensations for the Natl....
8620Constitutionality of the Residence Bill, [ca. 14 July] 1790 (Madison Papers)
The brief memorandum printed below is the only surviving record of JM’s opinion regarding the constitutionality of the bill which fixed the permanent national capital on the Potomac and the temporary capital at Philadelphia. The constitutional question had arisen during the latter stages of the House debate on the bill and continued during the interval between the passage of the bill on 9 July...
8621Article on Religion Adopted by Convention, [12 June 1776] (Madison Papers)
16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator , and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.
8622Proclamation on the Embargo, 19 April 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
By the President of the United States. A Proclamation. Whereas information has been received that sundry persons are combined or combining and confederating together on lake Champlain and the Country thereto adjacent for the purposes of forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the same and obstructing their execution, and that such combinations...
8623Session of Virginia Council of State, 1 May 1778 (Madison Papers)
present His Excellency; John Page James Madison & David Jameson Bolling Stark Esquires The Governor laid before the Board a Letter from Colonel Muter informing him that Phillips the noted Traitor has again made an Insurection in Princess Anne County at the head of fifty men; Whereupon they do Advise his Excellency to order one hundred men from the Militia of Nansemond to act in Conjunction...
8624Detatched Memoranda, ca. 31 January 1820 (Madison Papers)
I did not become acquainted with Dr. Franklin till after his return from France and election to the Chief Magistracy of Pennsylvania. During the session of the Grand Convention, of which he was a member and as long after as he lived, I had opportunities of enjoying much of his conversation, which was always a feast to me. I never passed half an hour in his company without hearing some...
8625Notes on Debates, 23 March 1787 (Madison Papers)
Nothing till Friday Mar. 23d. [1787] The Report for reducing salaries agreed to as amended Unanimously. The proposition for reducing the salary of the Secretary of F. Affairs to 3000 dollars was opposed by Mr. King & Mr. Madison who entered into the peculiar duties & qualifications requird in that office, and its peculiar importance. Mr. Mitchel & Mr. Varnum contended that it stood on a level...
8626Memorandum from Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 17 July] 1801 (Madison Papers)
It is objected that the act of Congress Mar. 3. 1800. c. 14. sect. 1. 2. entitles a citizen owner of a vessel to restitution until the vessel has been condemned by competent authority on paying salvage to the captor. Every man, by the law of nature, and every fellow citizen by compact, is bound to assist another against violence to his person or property. Tho’ therefore by the law of nature...
8627Notes on Debates, 23 May 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (7 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . The Report from Mr. Hamilton Mr. Gorham and Mr. Peters, in favor of discharging the soldiers enlisted for the war, was supported on the ground that it...
8628The Federalist Number 14, [30 November] 1787 (Madison Papers)
We have seen the necessity of the union as our bulwark against foreign danger, as the conservator of peace among ourselves, as the guardian of our commerce and other common interests, as the only substitute for those military establishments which have subverted the liberties of the old world, and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have proved fatal to other popular...
8629I. Text as Received by Jefferson, 1790, 4 February 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 9th. of Jany. inclosing one of Sepr. last did not get to hand till a few days ago. The idea which the latter evolves is a great one, and suggests many interesting reflections to legislators; particularly when contracting and providing for public debts. Whether it can be received in the extent your reasonings give it, is a question which I ought to turn more in my thoughts...
8630Power of Congress to Regulate Commerce, [29 August] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Charles Pinckney moved to require the approval of two-thirds of each house to pass an act regulating foreign and interstate commerce, insisting that any regulatory power over trade was a concession made by the South. Mr. Madison went into a pretty full view of the subject. He observed that the disadvantage to the S. States from a navigation act, lay cheifly in a temporary rise of freight,...
8631Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 7 October 1817 (Madison Papers)
At a meeting of the Visitors &c. held at Charlottesville 7. Oct: 1817. On information of the amount of the subscriptions to the Central College, known to be made, and others understood to be so, the board resolves, that the Pavilion now erecting be completed as heretofore directed, with the 20. dormitories attached to it, and that two other pavilions be contracted for and executed the next...
8632Draft of Instructions to Robert R. Livingston, [ca. 17 September] 1801 (Madison Papers)
You will herewith receive your commission as Minister Plenipotentiary from the U. States to the French Republic. You will also be furnished with copies of the instructions given to Mr. Dawson who carried to France the modified ratification of the Convention of the 30th of Sepr. last, and of those to Messrs. Elsworth and Murray charged with negociating a ratification in the same form by the...
8633Import Duties, [28 April] 1789 (Madison Papers)
Goodhue, Gerry, and Thatcher of Massachusetts objected to the six-cent duty on molasses as ruinous to the Massachusetts fishing industry and rum distillers and burdensome to the poor. Mr. Madison . I shall make no observation, Mr. Speaker, upon the language of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Thatcher) because I do not conceive it expresses either the deliberate temper of his own mind, or...
8634Resolutions Respecting Vermont Lands, [16 September] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 20, II, 249–52). These resolutions were merely one episode in an exceedingly difficult and prolonged controversy into which Congress was first drawn on 8 May 1776 ( Journals of the Continental Congress , IV, 334–35, 405). During the war, the concern of Congress about the dispute among New Hampshire, New York, and, to a lesser degree, Massachusetts over jurisdiction and land...
8635“Helvidius” Number 1, [24 August] 1793 (Madison Papers)
Several pieces with the signature of Pacificus were lately published, which have been read with singular pleasure and applause, by the foreigners and degenerate citizens among us, who hate our republican government, and the French revolution; whilst the publication seems to have been too little regarded, or too much despised by the steady friends to both. Had the doctrines inculcated by the...
8636Remarks on the Speech of John Wilson Croker, [15 May] 1813 (Madison Papers)
The following observations, in the House of Commons in February, in the debate on the American war, deserve attention, coming from Mr. Croker , Secretary of the Admiralty: “The right hon. gentleman had said, that it was not till the moment the news arrived of the capture of the Macedonian, that we shewed any signs of activity, and that then indeed the Chesapeake was shut up by a paper...
8637Note on “The North-American,” No. 1 and No. 2, 17 September and 8 October 1783 (Madison Papers)
17 September and 8 October 1783. In the Pennsylvania Journal, and the Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia) of 17 September and 8 October there are two essays, respectively entitled “The North-American, No. 1” and “The North-American, No. 2.” With some reservations, Edmund C. Burnett attributed these anonymously written articles to James Madison. Irving Brant is completely convinced that JM was...
8638Tonnage Duties, [4 May] 1789 (Madison Papers)
Before this day’s debate began, JM gave notice that on 25 May he would introduce the subject of amendments. “He thought it necessary thus early to mention the business, as it was weighty and important” ( Gazette of the U.S. , 6 May 1789). The postponed tonnage clauses were then taken up. Laurance moved to strike out the discrimination between countries having a commercial treaty with the...
8639The Federalist No. 54, [12 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE next view which I shall take of the House of Representatives, relates to the apportionment of its members to the several States, which is to be determined by the same rule with that of direct taxes. It is not contended that the number of people in each State ought not to be the standard for regulating the proportion of those who are to represent the...
8640Proportional Representation, [19 December] 1791 (Madison Papers)
On 9 December 1791 the Senate approved the apportionment bill but amended the ratio of representation from 1:30,000 to 1:33,000. When the House considered the Senate amendments on 12 December, “Mr. Madison observed, that the idea of diminishing the fractional parts appears to be the only reason for the alteration proposed by the Senate. The aggregate of these fractions only has been taken into...